Enka singer Sumi Tagawa (34), who is still enjoying a long-running hit with her latest single "Sad Encounter" (lyrics by Daizo Saito, music by Kohei Yuki, arrangement by Masayuki Sakamoto) released by Nippon Columbia on May 29 last year, debuted at No. 10 on the "Oricon Enka/Pop Song Ranking" (as of June 12 last year) and No. 49 on the "USEN HIT Enka/Pop Song Ranking" (as of June 16 last year), held a live concert titled "Spring Banquet ~ Showa XNUMXth Year ~" at La Donna Harajuku in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo on the XNUMXth.
The show was held twice, in the afternoon and evening, and with a crowd of about 34 enthusiastic fans in each audience, she opened with "Onna no Boat Song." She began by saying, "This year marks the 35th year since my debut. Next year will be the turning point for my XNUMXth year, so I thought it would be nice to have everyone hear my songs from time to time, and that's how it came about. This time, with the theme of the XNUMXth year of the Showa era, I have selected a number of nostalgic and classic songs from my own perspective, and I hope everyone will enjoy them."
After singing her own hits, including her 9th single "Aishu Port," her debut single "Onna... Hitori Tabi," and covers of nostalgic Showa era classics such as Kagurazaka Hanko's "Geisha Waltz" and Misora Hibari's "Meiji Ichidai Onna," she was joined by piano and violin players and performed Nakajima Miyuki's "Ito" and Inoue Yosui's "Yume no Naka e" accompanied by guitar, as well as Chiaki Naomi's debut song "Ame ni Nureta Boujou," a hit song by her mentor, composer Suzuki Jun.
In the second half of the show, they performed a total of 17 songs for about an hour and a half, including their original singles such as "Onna Takano," "Shimoda no Tsubaki," "Hana ni Nare," their latest song "Sad Encounter," and as an encore, Linda Yamamoto's "Dou mo Tomaranai," entertaining fans until the very end.
After finishing the song, she smiled and said, "I've been performing live shows for decades, but I still get nervous every time. I'm so close to the audience," and expressed her gratitude for the interaction with so many fans, saying, "I'm grateful. I'm living a rare life because of all the people who love me and treat me like more than parents."
Looking ahead to the 35th anniversary, she said, "As I've been singing this for so long, I'd like to be able to share Japanese enka with the world. The beautiful melodies that are unique to the Japanese language are something that we Japanese are proud of, and in recent years, a lot of people from overseas have been visiting Japan as inbound tourists, so I would like to be able to convey that Japanese enka is so cool. Next year will mark the 35th anniversary, but there are still so many wonderful Japanese enka and popular songs, so I would like to work hard to spread it even more."
On April 22th, they are scheduled to appear at the XNUMXnd Nagara Group Night Cherry Blossom Enka Festival to be held at the Setagaya Civic Hall in Tokyo.
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